The University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) Cancer Research Training Program is designed to identify and train a next generation of outstanding investigators focused on the problem of human malignancies. The Program provides the protected time, resources, educational experience and environment necessary to achieve this goal, as has been demonstrated throughout the past twenty-one consecutive years of funding. Traditionally focused on emerging physician-scientists, the Program has been highly successful in nurturing these young investigators to productive research careers in basic and clinical cancer research. To meet the increasing demands of our shared translational research mission, we now propose to integrate recently graduated PhD scientists into the Program. The 43 faculty preceptors from the Abramson Cancer Center (ACC) at UPenn were selected from across the translational research spectrum to provide a rich group of potential mentors to all trainees. The modified Training Program will leverage the existing strengths that have been successful in training our physician-scientists, and add new training experiences for PhD trainees. An Executive Committee broadly representative of the research experiences available to our trainees will oversee the Program, including recruitment, evaluation and career development. RELEVANCE: Significant advancement towards preventing and curing human cancer relies on quality investigators dedicated to translational science. The Cancer Research Training Program strives to recruit and train the next generation of individuals who will lead the field of cancer research.